Activated
by wjobsessed
Summary: Chapter 13 is up! Olivia, Walter, and Peter all reflect on recent developments. Based on events from episode 2.16 entitled 'Peter.'
1. Chapter 1

**This popped into my head last night.**

**Inspired by the events of "Bad Dreams" and Wolfa Moon's excellent story "To Be A Pair."**

**Unbetaed. All mistakes are mine.**

**I do not own anything to do with Fringe. I just obsess a great deal over it.**

**Dedicated to Wolfa Moon. I hope she sticks around in this fandom. :)**

Activated

Olivia Dunham paused after she pushed the yellow push pin into Southborough, Massachusetts along the Masssachusetts Turnpike. She'd been experiencing the same strange smells and feelings for at least an hour now and she did not have a clue as to why.

Salt water. A lot of it. Sand. Mold. And freshly cooked pancakes. One at a time, and altogether. How strange indeed.

She really didn't have time to concentrate on these new smells and their accompanying sensations, they had to find Jones, and fast! The Bureau had to strike him down so Dr. William Bell could be protected.

And just how ironic was that? Protect the monster who hurt her in her childhood!

Olivia picked up a red push pin and studied the map of the Northeastern United States. The heady aroma of fresh pancakes assaulted her head again. She stuck her head out the Command Room door to see if any agent had pancakes. She didn't think they did. Olivia put the push pin back into its box and sighed.

Wrapping her arms around herself Olivia closed her eyes and succumbed to the onslaught of smells and the particular emotions surrounding them. It was useless to fight it.

Remembrance. Bittersweet remembrance. Love. Loss. _Whose emotions were these? Why these smells?_

But Olivia knew. She'd been in denial ever since it started happening after she'd spoken with Nick Lane. She knew she was a receiver to some. Nick Lane, for one. Although not Nick since he'd been put into a protective coma. But now the events were happening more frequently. And suddenly she realized where all the foreign smells and attached emotions were coming from. _Peter_. Lately, whenever she felt as though Peter was physically far from her this would happen. She didn't understand why but she was sure Walter and Dr. Bell had something to do with it.

_It wasn't a bad thing, to 'receive' Peter this way_, Olivia thought to herself, _Just new._

She looked back to the map and wondered when she would tell him about it, and what he would say in reply. Right now, there was no urgency to address it. Getting a quick 'read' on Peter, she sensed he was OK and not in any present danger. She laughed a little to herself at how she was able to feel it.

Olivia lifted another red push pin from the box. Regretfully, she knew she had to push all thoughts and sensations of Peter Bishop to the side of her consciousness, and work on the pattern of the occurrences, in order to capture David Robert Jones. The bastard was looking for a way into another world.

Agent Dunham knew she'd do everything she could to bring him to justice in this one.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to all who reviewed and enjoyed "Activated." Many of you asked me to consider continuing this story.**

**I have decided to continue it in parts. **

**Part II, entitled "Gone, Again" starts the day after Peter closes the portal. The same day Olivia goes to New York.**

**This is unbetaed. I do not own Fringe or anything to do with it.**

**The song lyrics mentioned are from Puddle Of Mudd's "Blurry."**

Gone, Again

Peter Bishop was jotting down the day's data for the last of Walter's tissue samples for the current Pattern-related case. He was trying very hard to forget what happened almost an hour ago. Out of the blue he felt fear wrench his gut, sudden and intense. He had to get off the stool he was sitting on and run out the lab door to the closest exit of the Kresge Building to fill his lungs with fresh air. After he had calmed himself Peter tried to figure out what had transpired. He couldn't figure out what "it" was but it had been intense and bad. And he believed it had something to do with Olivia Dunham.

_But she's OK. She's back in Boston, resting like the rest of us_, he thought to himself.

Astrid appeared at his side.

"You OK, Peter? I saw you take off out here."

'Thanks, Astrid. Yeah, I think I'm OK now."

"You sure? You look paler."

"Really. I'm good. You go ahead inside. I'll be along." He gave her a well-practiced smile.

As she walked away the smile left his face. _Something changed. Something's different. What?_

_What am I feeling and why? _Deep down Peter knew, but pushed all thought and feeling aside and walked back to the lab. He didn't have the mental energy to deal with anything right now.

Minutes later as Peter was looking up something on the internet, yesterday's incredulous events began to reply in his mind. Olivia running toward the portal, and the fear that gripped his heart. Him hitting Walter's remote just as Jones entered the portal, splitting Jones literally in two. The quiet ride he and Walter had back to Boston's Federal Building for the debriefing. The exhaustion, mental and physical, they all experienced afterwards.

Peter's mind drifted back to Olivia. He wondered how she was making out today with her post-case report. He placed his pen down on the workbench and picked up his jacket. After a quick yell to Walter as to his plans Peter hurried out of the lab and headed for the Vista Cruiser at the curb. He needed to vent. It was either walk or ride. _Ride it is_, he thought. _I need a drive with the windows way down._

After a brief hesitation the Vista Cruiser came to life and he headed toward Boston Common. Even though parking there was a bitch he longed to sit on _their_ bench and think.

Drumming his hands on the steering wheel Peter tried to get a "read" on Olivia. He felt mildly ashamed that he had not yet confided in her of this new ability. He wasn't exactly sure when it had started, but it was sometime after he had held her hand while she was seeing through the eyes of Nick Lane.

It was strange but it wasn't a bad thing, actually.

Peter rather enjoyed feeling her presence whenever he concentrated hard enough to tune into it.

Knowing he could feel her gave him a feeling of peace and something else he couldn't quite describe.

Peter thought for a moment about dropping in at her office but quickly nixed the idea. Olivia had better things to do this afternoon than put up with his flirtatious distractions. The dashboard clock read 1:06PM. He made a mental note that he had time to run some errands during this outing.

Suddenly from his peripheral vision a brilliant blue light flashed and then disappeared.

_What the hell?!_he thought to himself. Peter rubbed his eyes thinking he'd had an ultra short migraine aura. He'd had auras before, but nothing as short or as bright as this.

Peter pondered stopping for a Coke when the bright blue light flashed a second time more intensely across both his eyes blurring his vision. He slammed the brakes on the Vista Cruiser. The old station wagon fishtailed to the right and came to a screeching halt, missing a mail truck by mere inches.

"Holy shit!"Peter shouted. _Not an aura_, he thought. It took moments for his heart to stop pounding Peter looked to the left, the right, and then straight ahead trying to determine exactly what he had seen and its source. There was no source. Turning, he looked out the rear window. _Nothing_. _Nothing's there._

The slight ridge in his forehead became a cavern with worry. After what felt like forever, Peter took a deep breath. He looked both ways and resumed driving amidst the discernible looks and comments from pedestrians on both sides of Brattle Street.

Eight minutes later in Watertwon, Peter Bishop walked towards his father's station wagon with a rather large bag from Dean's delicatessen. He had almost reached it when another visceral attack hit him.

This time an incredible, overwhelming sense of fear and fright centering in his gut. But not his feeling. Someone else's. _Hers_. _Livia! _He didn't stop to question how but he knew in that instant she wasn't at the Federal Building doing paperwork. He couldn't feel her anywhere near as he usually did. Peter ran to the car and practically jumped into it. He turned the engine over and headed for her office. To prove himself wrong, but he knew he was right.

Peter bumped the radio button on the dashboard in his haste and loud lyrics filled the station wagon.

You know that I'll protect you

From all of the obscene

I wonder what your doing

Imagine where you are

Theres's oceans in between us

But that's not very far

"God!" Peter shouted. He smacked the radio off trying not to focus on any deeper implications of the song's lyrics.

Painstakingly with one hand on the wheel he retrieved his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Olivia's cell. After several rings her voice sounded on the outgoing message. Peter took his eyes from the road for a second and tried Charlie's cell. It went immediately to voicemail.

"Dammit!" Peter tried hard not to hyperventilate. _Livia! Where are you?!_

**_Reviews are greatly appreciated!_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Again, thanks to all who have reviewed and are continuing to enjoy this.**

**This is a dark chapter, but needs to be told.**

**I own nothing to do with Fringe. All mistakes here are mine. I hope you like this. I worked hard on it. :)**

Activated, Part III-Doubt

Peter stood next to his father in the hallway of the Head Trauma Center of New York General Hospital watching as the paramedics hurriedly moved the stretcher containing a battered Olivia Dunham down the corridor. He couldn't believe what they had all witnessed. Olivia had been catapulted out the windshield of her SUV onto an unforgiving street in New York City, of all places.

The thing that bothered Peter most was the mix of feelings chattering through his gut at this moment.

Concern, angst, and fear among them. But even while the medical staff acted like she was quite unstable there was still an unmistakable feeling of calm in and around him-like everything would be all right. He held onto it like a child's favorite toy, and took some deep, calming breaths.

When Peter looked up a young man in a white lab coat was moving toward him with a grave expression on his face. Peter called Walter away from his concentration on junk food to come join them.

The young man reluctantly looked Peter Bishop in the eyes. "I'm afraid your friend's injuries were too severe."

"Oh God," Peter said averting his eyes.

The doctor continued."We're unable to restore any brain function. Patients who suffer this kind of head trauma simply don't regain consciousness."

There was a milisecond of silence, and then Walter spoke, his voice loud, strong, and eloquent.

"Simple. Deductive. Absurd!" Walter turned toward Peter and put his hands lovingly on Peter's arms.

"I deduct these are relative terms. Constructively defined. They've undergone cultural specifics..."

"Walter-" Peter gently tried to interrupt him to no avail.

"There's undoubtedly no change in primitive diagnostics. Agent Dunham is _not_ dead. She's not dead."

"Walter..." Peter tried again to reach him.

"She's not!" Walter turned and quickly headed toward Olivia's room.

"Walter! Wait! Stop!" Peter hurried after him.

The doctor stuck and hand in Peter's face. "You can't go back there."

Peter spun around and gave the doctor an exhausted look, his eyes dark. "Please. Back off," he said with as much control as he could muster. Peter turned and went to find Walter.

And he found him pretty quickly shining his penlight into Olivia's eye. One then the other.

Peter watched from the glass observation window outside her room as his father leaned closer to her face and said something. Peter never heard Walter sadly say to Olivia, "I'm sorry, Olive."

At some point, Astrid came and took Walter from him which was a huge relief. Peter needed time to think. He found himself magically transported to Central Park. He didn't remember walking there. He just kept focusing on the feeling, albeit a weak one, that Olivia was going to be all right. Tears leaked from his eyes but he didn't bother to wipe them away. He was confused. Peter really, really wanted to believe what his inner self was telling him but is was so very difficult to accept. Despite Walter's words to the contrary, his actions seemed to indicate that the doctor spoke the truth. Olivia was brain dead. Technically only alive thanks to life support measures. Peter cried a little more loudly and wiped at his eyes. _No. NO! She's going to be OK. I don't know how I know but I know. I. Know,_ he thought to himself.

Another day in New York came and went and Peter barely remembered anything about it. Olivia had not woken up. Peter had not slept, although he had tried. While he was supine his thoughts drifted to all that he would lose if his gut feeling was wrong. If he was wrong he would never again get to look into her bright green eyes that flashed when she challenged him. Never get to touch her flaxen hair or smell her essence. Never get to kiss her or possibly make love to her-_NO! _His mind screamed. _No. She'll come out of this. Be. Patient._

Later that night as he walked toward Olivia's room he saw Rachel standing in the hallway. He almost didn't recognize her she looked so disheveled and upset. She walked toward him.

"Hey Rach,"Peter said putting a hand on her shoulder. "When did you get back?"

She looked him in the eyes. "A few hours ago. Ella's at a friend's house. Y'know I don't want her to remember her aunt like this." Peter shook his head in understanding.

"She had a living will." Peter cringed at her use of the past tense. "No life support. They're gonna do this in the morning, so I've just been sitting with her and..." They both turned to look toward Olivia's room. "Do you wanna..." She stopped talking but Peter knew what she was asking. She was asking if he wanted to say goodbye. Inside, he was screaming no, that he had no intention of saying goodbye, because Olivia Dunham wasn't going anywhere. But how would he explain a hunch to her sister, when he didn't even understand it himself? He didn't want to give Rachel any false hope if he turned out to be wrong. Although he wanted to tell Rachel his thoughts, the alcohol helped him keep his mouth shut on the matter.

Peter shook his head gently. "Yes," he said out loud.

Rachel gave him a look that reflected her soul. "You know she liked you, Peter. Do you know that?"

Peter's eyelids started to flutter and he had to bite his lip to keep the tears back. He gave Rachel hair a quick touch and moved back, speechless. He gave her elbow a gentle squeeze. After a deep sigh he moved into Olivia's room.

Olivia looked so incredibly still in her hospital bed, and Peter again wondered if his gut feeling was wrong._ It still doesn't feel wrong._

He made his way toward her. After a quick glance toward her ECG machine which still showed a normal heartbeat, he moved closed and sat on her bed. He took a good look at her sorry state and sighed again in frustration. Peter couldn't help it, he had to touch her golden hair. He grabbed several strands in his fingers and felt them. Then he replaced them respectively.

"Hey," he said outloud, trying to think of all he wanted to say to her sleeping form. Instead, he was quiet and felt fresh tears stinging his eyes. This was the hardest thing he'd ever done, and he'd done plenty of hard things. Up to this moment, he really thought she would be fine. Perhaps he had been wrong. The new thought was terrifying. Gathering all his mental strength he spoke words he never hoped to speak in his lifetime. "Bye Olivia." Before he wet her body with his tears he moved forward to place his first and last kiss on her tender, still lips.

Peter got about twelve inches from her face when her green eyes flashed open and she uttered familiar words in a language he didn't expect. His first reaction was shock. As he quickly recovered from that, he felt joy. Joy that she was still alive! Then shame. Shame that he didn't trust himself. He knew from that moment on, he would never doubt his gut feeling regarding her again. Peter reached over and pushed the red assistance button behind Olivia's head on the wall. "Someone get in here now!" he shouted. "She's waking up!"

**Please review. It truly makes my day!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to those who continue to read and review this story.**

**This will parallel the episodes in Season 2, some more heavily than others.**

**Of course I don't own a thing. The mistakes are mine.**

Part IV-Uncertain Future

The glass was shaking in her hand. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't make it stop.

She wanted to very badly but she could not make it stop. The tremulousness of her hand reflected that of her entire body.

Olivia Dunham heaved a great sigh, and then a sob. She had been doing that a lot lately.

The worst part was feeling out of control. Ever since that incident with her step-father so many years ago, she had to be in control. She needed to be in control. Some days, months, years, were easier than others. Before this the most recent time was when John got sick, and then died. She had found the information to make him better but in the end she could not save him. But now it was herself, and that was a million times worse than bad things happening to other people, even John.

The strange feeling in her gut, her "new power," as she coined it, was kindergarten compared to this new super hearing thing. Four times it had happened to her now! That business with the fly on poor Sheriff Golightly's desk had been frightening-almost deafening, and abrupt. Of course looking back all four incidents had been abrupt. But what she hated to admit the most was losing her concentration on things around her when it happened. The hearing thing wiped everything else away when it started. She couldn't feel Peter, she couldn't remember what she was saying or thinking. Nothing else had been able to get through. What if she had been driving her SUV when it happened? Then a thought hit her, _What if that's what happened when I had the accident I don't remember having?!_ _Too late to try to pull that apart now. _

She raised the shaking glass to her lips and took another sip of the amber liquid. Her thoughts turned a bit and she thought of the other ugly outcome of the day it started. She had almost shot Peter. A man she barely understood but knew she cared about. An inch or two to the left and another significant person would have been snuffed from her life. She could still see his face when he realized how close the bullet had come. Confusion and then anger scribbled over it. Even now the thought made her feel physically sick.

Olivia set the glass back on the coffee table. And that Sam Weiss guy. Who was he? Why would putting size eight bowling shoes on a woman who needed a cane to walk help things? His "session" tonight, if one could indeed call it that, had been brief. Productive? She didn't think so. Would she go back again? She did not know.

What Olivia Dunham did know was that she was not on the road to recovery yet-according to Sam Weiss. "Have the headaches started yet? He had asked her. "They will," had been his reply.

She sighed again. _Does that mean something else weird will happen to me, heralded by these headaches yet to come? Will I discover some other new thing I did not posess before the accident?_

Olivia carefully pushed up from the sofa and started the long journey up to her bed. For the first time in her life she loathed the future. It was not a good feeling. And the suffering was hers alone. No one else knew what she was going through. Not even this Sam character Nina seemed to have so much faith in.

All she knew was she had to take it one hour at a time. As she slowly made her way up the stairs, she got a read on Peter Bishop. AOK. _And if I ever decide I _do_ want to talk with someone at least I'll know where to find him._

_**Please review. It makes my day. **_


	5. Chapter 5

**I am so very sorry it's taken this long to update this fic. Part of the problem was my computer died after Thanksgiving vacation and I didn't have one for 3 weeks.****But everything's back now, and I vow to catch you up. Thanks to everyone who has written me and asked me to update. This story will paralell many of the events of Season 2 with a slight AU twist(maybe not so AU, we'll have to wait and see!).**

**This is unbetaed. The mistakes are mine. Of course I don't own Fringe, etc. but it sure is fun to play with Peter and Olivia. Chapter 5 here reflects events of episode 2.03, "Fracture."**

Activated-Chapter 5

It was embarrassing how much her fingers were shaking as she tried to tie the bowling shoes.

"Don't think about the shoes or the laces," the elusive Sam Weiss had told her. "Amazingly the shoes will get tied."

"How, by magic?" she quipped.

"No, but that would be neat, wouldn't it?" he had replied, almost flirting with her.

He was making jokes while she was trying to gain some semblance of normal functioning back into her life and this, this bowling Sensei was making jokes.

The fourth time Olivia Bishop visited Sam Weiss she couldn't take it any more-his sarcasm, his dry wit while she was struggling to cope. So she pulled her service revolver on him and enraged, she even released the safety. With her gun trained on him she'd called him a son-of-a-bitch and threatened him, only to discover his silent and unaffected stare back to her cane leaning against the seats some 25 feet away.

* * *

Olivia thought back to yesterday when Peter was holding the door open for her to her new black SUV.

He had 'that look' on his face-part anger, part concern, and part scowl. The incident in Mrs. Gillespie's

house had left her mentally and physically exhausted, and she wasn't paying full attention.

"Got anything else on your mind?" he asked her with a light dose of sarcasm.

"What do you mean?" she had answered evasively thinking he would drop it. But really she knew better.

"The headache. Did the doctors tell you that would happen?" Even without looking she could feel his eyes boring into her.. She did not want to talk to him about it. So she floundered for an answer that might satisfy him.

"Um. They said I might have them and that they're perfectly normal." She tried wearing her poker face but was too tired to put it on so she had looked away from him and changed the subject.

Olivia could just about taste his frustration. She could most certainly feel it in the way he used extra force to close the SUV's door.

And what goes around comes around, she's thinking now as she watches him turn away with his Red Russian in his hand. Achmed had quickly painted a not-so-pretty picture of the formerly-in-Iraq civilian contractor Peter Bishop. A man who apparently was out for all he could get for himself at everyone else's expense.

None of this had surprised Olivia Dunham for she had read his bio, but it was much more of a slap to the face to hear it out loud. The words just seemed to not fit the Peter Bishop sitting next to her now, who'd been helping her and the FBI out for the past year. The man who'd pulled her out of the tank the fourth time and held her close, comforting her. The man who had returned in the eleventh hour knowing the lightbox bomb could have killed them both. The man who cradled her face tenderly when she woke up from the car accident.

As Achmed left them to attempt to find the Iraqi doctors, she quickly asked Peter for more details on the man he had been. She had to in order to make sense of him now.

"Do you want to tell me what that was all about?"

"No," he answered quickly with no hesitation whatsoever, turning away from her with his Red Russian in his hand.

"Touche," she says to herself. She understands now that he's done this to her. "Yeah, being left out sucks." She takes another sip of the horrid beverage.


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow! Two uploaded chapters in one week? I told ya I'm trying to catch up!**

**Unbetaed. The mistakes are mine. I do not own anything to do with Fringe(sadly).**

**This chapter takes place after then end of episode 2.05 "Dream Logic."**

**Peter is tired of being shut out does something about it.**

Activated-Chapter 6

5:20PM November 05, 2010

Peter Bishop looked out over the deck at the rear of their new apartment with a beer bottle in hand.

For the twentieth-something time that late afternoon he thought about Olivia Dunham, and how he was certain he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Right now. Starting tonight, but it wasn't happening. Nothing had happened since she got home from the hospital. It seemed to be business as usual with her. Peter took another swig from his bottle.

He had thought that after Walter left them alone in Seattle that something might have happened out there, but she was still in emotional pain. Surprisingly, she had opened up to him for a few minutes, talking about Charlie, saying he was gone and he wasn't coming back. But with those words Peter realized she had meant both men. Charlie and John. The two most influential men in her life-her partner and her lover-both now gone forever. Peter swallowed hard. He hoped someday that he would be included in her list of influential men, filling both categories, without the tragic ending.

Peter had had to work hard to quickly choke down the emotion he felt when her tears started in Seattle.

There had been no time to grab her and hold her, to comfort her as he wanted to do. She had jumped off the couch in her room, excusing herself under the guise of going to help in the investigation. When the door quickly closed behind her all Peter could hear was the sound of his beating heart.

How had he gotten to this point? He had been Peter Bishop, con man extraordinaire. Every day a different scam and a different woman. Well, almost every day. Yet for months now he longed for just one woman, who seemed to be always paradoxically close by and yet so far away-especially recently.

Peter took another swig.

He couldn't explain how he knew it but Peter knew something was going on with her. Something new.

Olivia was preoccupied with something besides trying to heal both mentally and physically after her devastating accident and killing a shapeshifting bastard masquerading as her partner. Something else was definitely going on with her. Peter could feel it but he couldn't define it, and it was driving him crazy. In that moment looking out into the dark he vowed to take action to find out what it was, as soon as possible.

Suddenly, his mind took him to a darker place. _What if it's not a what but a who? What if she's seeing someone,_ he thought to himself. _Is she talking with someone? Because she's barely talking with me._

And he hated that part most of all. He hated that she'd shut him out when he wanted to talk with her about the violent headache days ago, and hated it even more so now as he thought about it.

Then an idea, like the proverbial light bulb turning on, popped into his mind. He would check out her cell phone and GPS. Investigate a little. Find out who she was talking to and where she'd been.

With any other person Peter would not have hesitated a second, but with Olivia...Peter sighed.

He knew she would hate it, would kill him if she found out. But he knew he would do _anything, _legal or not, if in the end it would help her get back to where she was before all of this.

As Peter stood there on their new balcony watching the evening sun set over greater Boston, he solidified the where and when of his plan.

5:20AM November 06. 2010

The clandestine nocturnal activity had left him wired. Peter Bishop sat quietly at their new kitchen table with a styrofoam cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee in his hand, staring at his FBI-issued laptop.

He desperately hoped Walter would not choose this particular morning to wake up earlier than usual.

Reluctantly Peter reviewed for the third time the data he'd obtained from her cell and GPS that was now on the screen.

Olivia had started receiving calls from a man named Sam Weiss. The most recent was while they were in Seattle. Peter swallowed the bile welling up in his throat. He traced the Boston-based phone number back to a bowling alley in South Boston. _Bowling?_ He said to himself. _She's barely started walking without that cane. Bowling?!_ He thought increduously.

Peter Bishop was pretty sure he knew a bit about Olivia Dunham. Bowling was not a part of her daily or weekly activity as far as he knew. In fact, in the year or so they had been thrown into working together for the Fringe Division she had not mentioned bowling once. It just seemed...strange.

Even more strange was the fact that her GPS showed she had driven from her home to said bowling alley four times in the last ten days! _What was the deal? Was she meeting this Sam Weiss person at this bowling alley? To do what with him, actual bowling?!_

Peter fished in his pocket for the roll of Tums and stuck two into his mouth. He didn't like the direction his thoughts were leading. _If Sam Weiss was a man, was she having a relationship with him? _Of course Olivia was a grown woman free to do as she pleased, but Peter had always envisioned him and her getting together in the future. Thoughts of Olivia with any other man were totally unacceptable. _Now if Sam Weiss were a woman, what would that mean? A therapist maybe? But in a bowling alley?_ It was a possible although unlikely explanation. And he didn't blame her. Who could imagine the emotional aftermath of visiting another dimension and then literally falling out of it?

He knew in his heart what he needed to do. He just dreaded doing it. There was a lot to lose if she found out. Olivia Bishop wasn't just his co-worker or just a part of his little dysfunctional family in the lab. If the truth be told, she was his everything. Everything he wanted, everything he thought he needed, but everything he didn't have. He certainly did not want to jeopardize any chance he might have with her. But Peter Bishop was very worried about her. He had to know what was going on.

Wrinkling his brow, Peter rubbed his eyes with his hand and made a decision. Tonight. He would make sure she was safely tucked away at home and then he would check it out. He would find this Sam Weiss person and make them talk.

* * *

6:20PM November 06, 2009

Peter could actually feel Olivia arriving at her street before he even saw her vehicle._ She's OK tonight. Peaceful vibes,_ he told himself. He felt dirty watching her from a block away walking up her steps and unlocking the door to her apartment. But he still felt he was doing the right thing. Peter waited until Olivia closed the outer door behind her. Then he started counting down the minutes. After ten minutes passed he started up the Vista Cruiser and headed for the bowling alley in Southie.

* * *

6:31PM November 06, 2009

Olivia opened the front door to her apartment and looked around. She couldn't explain why but she felt as though someone had been watching her place. Not seeing anything she shrugged and closed the door again double-checking to make sure it was properly locked.

* * *

6:50PM November 06, 2009

The bowling alley looked as though it had been built in the 1950's. Peter tried hard to visualize Olivia getting out of her SUV with her cane and walking into the entrance.

As Peter made his way down the long flight of stairs he could appreciate how much effort it must have taken her to get up and down those stairs four times, especially that first time when she was having a lot of trouble getting around. _She must have been determined to get here. Why?_he asked himself.

He swallowed the lump of emotion in his throat, all the more determined to complete his task.

The stairway emptied out into a low-ceilinged, brightly lit area. It crtainly appeared to be an ordinary bowling alley. Nothing stuck out about the place. Peter made his way toward the long counter and the unattractive hirsute man standing behind it.

"Hi. I'm looking for Sam Weiss," Peter said trying to come off as sounding friendly and casual.

The dark-haired man's eyes widened for a moment. Then he locked cold eyes on Peter.

"And you are?" Sam asked.

Peter looked around to make sure no one else was within earshot. His gut told him this man was Sam Weiss but Peter played along.

"I want to speak with him about Agent Olivia Dunham."

Sam Weiss continued to stare Peter Bishop down. After what seemed like forever Sam spoke.

"OK. Let's go to Lane four," Sam said showing no emotion. He stepped out from behind the counter and led Peter to the fourth lane where they sat in the multi-colored seats. Sam Weiss marveled at the intensity of Peter's gaze. _Oh boy,_ he thought.

Suddenly Peter felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight. This man was trying to get into his thoughts! Peter was stunned and blocked him as quickly as he could. Sam was mentally very strong, and Peter felt the strain while trying to keep him out of his head. As quickly as the feeling started it ceased. Sam and Peter both took a deep breath.

"Peter Bishop, correct?"

Peter cocked his head. "How did you-"

"You do realize, Mr. Bishop, I read up on all my clients. You are Dr. Walter Bishop's son, and currently, his legal guardian. You, and Agent Dunham, and a Junior Agent er, Farnsworth, that's it-with the additional help of your father work cases of Fringe science for the FBI."

Peter tried to keep in control of his sudden anger. He stuck his hands in his pants pockets and balled them into fists.

Sam Weiss stared long and hard at Peter in the silence. He felt sorry for him for two reasons.

Firstly, Peter felt out of control now because a perfect stranger, a civilian no less, just recited classified FBI information back to him, and secondly, Sam was pretty sure he knew why Peter was confronting him here and now. Peter Bishop was in love with Olivia Dunham. By the look on his face he had it bad for her, and Sam would bet his next paycheck that Olivia Dunham did not know Peter's true feelings towards her. Even if she did it didn't matter. She was totally preoccupied right now with restoring herself to her previous level of functioning. Sam remembered all too well what that felt like. Yes, Peter Bishop truly had his work cut out for him.

Finally looking away from Sam,Peter tightened his fists in his pockets, trying to tamp down the desire to hit the smug bastard. _So he knows about us, and the Fringe Division. So what! Remember what you're doing here, _he thought to himself. _Do it for Livia, for her._

"So what do you want to know about Agent Dunham?" Sam asked to get Peter's attention back.

Just hearing her name on this guy's lips was pissing Peter off. He clenched and unclenched his hands yet again.

Peter looked back at Sam Weiss trying to put on an unaffected face, but when it came to Olivia Dunham it was getting harder and harder for him to disguise his feelings.

"Is she making any progress? Is she getting better?" Peter tried not to sound as desperate for information as he actually was.

"She has made some progress." Sam grew quiet and gave him a sympathetic look. "Why don't you ask her about it?"

Peter looked away from Sam and down at his shoes. "She won't talk to me about it. She's...shutting me out, " he said resignedly, and grew quiet.

_Bingo!!_ Sam said to himself. _Bishop's in love with her._ Sam wanted to smile, thrilled that he was correct, but he did not want to get punched in the face. Plus, the genius needed someone to show him what he himself could not see. Sam counted to five, took a breath, and then responded.

"To people like Olivia, control is everything. In their work and in their personal life." Sam looked to make sure Peter was listening. "She doesn't want you to see her out of control. Weakened. She's probably embarrassed by what you've already seen of her since the accident."

Peter remembered the look on her face that time she realized she shot at his head missing him by mere inches-embarrassment, shame, and shock all mixed together. Peter realized what Sam was saying made sense. Peter looked back at Sam studying his face.

"Space. Distance. Time. That's what Olivia thinks she needs right now. Give her those.

But don't act disinterested either. Just don't pressure her to open up. She will when she's ready."

"How long do you think that will be-knowing what you know about her injuries?" Peter asked way too quickly. Sam stared at Peter again. _They are always so impatient._

"Hard to say. Probably not too long from now. She's already walking and holding her gun better. Focusing better. My guess would be a few more weeks, more or less."

Peter knew he'd wait a lifetime for Olivia to come around, but he hoped it wouldn't take more than the few weeks Sam suggested. It felt good just to have an approximation rather than no idea. The hands that were previously balled up in his pockets were now hanging between his legs. He rubbed them together lost in thought.

"It was really hard for her to lose them you know. Her lover and partner _and_ her other partner. That's a lot of loss. Don't fuck it up for her, Bishop." Sam stared at Peter and raised an eyebrow.

Peter shook his head 'no' and stood up. The meeting was over. He took a few steps away but then turned back around toward Sam Weiss. "Thanks," was simply all he said.

Sam nodded his head in acknowledgment, almost smiling. Then he stared in realization at Peter Bishop, his eyes very wide.

"Something wrong?" Peter asked, knitting his brow together.

"N-no. I just thought of something I have to do," Sam lied.

Peter turned and walked away.

_I must be mistaken. Bishop has a glow around him? Walter's son?! How is that possible?_

Sam Weiss watched as Peter ascended the stairs. _I wonder who else knows,_ he thought to himself.

* * *

7:22PM November 06, 2009

Olivia Dunham set her paperback down on the table. There it was again. A feeling, like something was 'off' for lack of a better term. Something out of sorts. For some reason the feeling reminded her of science class when two things of the same polarity repelled, very strongly. _Weird to think of that. At least it wasn't like that pressure headache out of nowhere twenty minutes ago. The one that ended almost as quickly as it started. Huh. Well, no more Jack Daniels for me tonight, _she thought to herself.


	7. Chapter 7

**I again want to thank everyone who has favorited and alerted this story. That is huge to me. :) I will try to get more chapters posted during this current hiatus.**

**I do NOT own Fringe. All mistakes are mine.**

**This chapter reflects events in Episode 2.07, entitled "Of Human Action," and is dedicated to Zaedah. Last week I told her if she finished "Voskresenie" I would post another chapter of "Activated." Well, she did, and so I am posting, because a deal's a deal.**

Activated-Chapter 7

She could feel it, almost touch it. The anxiety was making her heart pump faster.

Something had changed in the course of the last few minutes, but she was so absorbed in trying to find Tyler Carson that she disallowed herself from focusing on it, even as it grew in intensity.

With walkie talkie in hand, Olivia Dunham tried to shift gears to concentrate on the sense of dread escalating inside of her. She had just barely pushed the reason to the conscious part of her brain when Walter anxiously walked up and interrupted her focus.

"Olivia. Agent Dunham. Where _is_ he?" Walter asked, visibly upset.

"Tyler? We're still looking for him, Walter."

"No, no no. I don't mean Tyler. I mean _Peter_! I thought he was with you. He's gone. I can't find him anywhere!"

Olivia gave Walter a look like she couldn't believe it, but with Walter's last words the switch had been flipped and it all made sense. Ever since 'the ability' came, her gut never lied. She had known he was physically gone before Walter even spoke. The burning question was why? Why was he gone? Was Peter operating in con-man mode? Had he gotten his hands on the suitcase of money and run off with it? Olivia had a hard time accepting that, even though he had been a career criminal before being forced into the Fringe Division. With a pained expression she raised the walkie talkie to her lips.

"Has anyone seen Peter Bishop?" She was hoping someone would respond positively, but she knew knew no one would. He was gone. And on the move if her gut was correct, moving further and further away from her. _Peter,_ she said to herself. Olivia felt like she was going to throw up, but there was no time for anything. She needed answers, and fast! Olivia headed toward the empty warehouse to the right, gun drawn in her shaking hands. She just had to find the other suspect...alive.

* * *

The three of them were speeding down the Maryland street in Astrid's white sedan.

Olivia couldn't sit still. It was all she could do to concentrate on anything other than the sense of Peter being so close by she could almost smell him. _Where's the Vista Cruiser? _She said to herself. _It's got to be close. Real close._

"Olivia, is that my car?" Walter asked suddenly. Olivia's eyes snapped to attention.

"It's them!" Astrid replied, pushing the gas pedal to the floor of the station wagon while turning a corner.

With a visual on the Vista Cruiser several yards in front of them now, Olivia piped up from the backseat.

"If we can disrupt Tyler's brainwaves, how close do we need to be?" she asked trying to mask the anxiety from her voice.

"No further than twenty feet, and the effect will only last a few seconds." Walter replied, fiddling with the control box with one hand while holding the brain scrambling device in the other. Astrid's car moved faster and suddenly they were the prerequisite distance from the back of the Vista Cruiser.

"OK. Do it! DO IT NOW!!" Olivia yelled sounding almost hysterical.

* * *

Olivia watched from the rear of the ambulance as Walter knelt and spoke with Peter. She saw Peter try to lift his upper body from the ground and felt a surge of relief. Then he turned his head and looked at her. She nodded her head to him in response. She couldn't go to him. Not right now. It was taking all her energy to stay still and keep in professional mode. Inside she was a mess. She had almost lost control several times in the last few hours and she knew it. When the Vista Cruiser slammed into the telephone pole it was all she could do to keep herself from jumping out of Astrid's moving car to go to his aid. How had things progressed to this point? And more importantly, what would happen the next time something happened to Peter? Would she be unable to function? She knew she could not be objective when it came to Peter Bishop. It was a sobering thought she would have to re-visit later.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry it's taken awhile to get another chapter of this up. One problem is I'm fussy about what goes into this fic. Maybe that's good?**

**This chapter is based on the events of the wonderful episode 2.08 entitled, "August."**

**I own nothing to do with Fringe. Unbetaed. Thanks to all who continue to stick with this story. You won't regret it. :)**

Activated-Chapter 8

He was angry at himself.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up only a nanosecond before he felt the cold, cylindrical nuzzle against his head. _Why didn't I sense him? I should have known he was here!_ he thought in that moment. Peter Bishop berated himself.

"On your knees. Get on the ground," the male voice said. Then Peter heard the unmistakable click of the safety being removed. Peter Bishop put his hands up at his sides and shot into quick-thinking-conman mode. It certainly wasn't a situation new to him but he hated it every time. Feeling vulnerable.

"Take it easy. Take it easy." Peter concentrated on the mantra as he bent his knees, pretending to bend down. "Take it easy..."

In a blink, Peter spun counter-clockwise toward the man and knocked the gun out of his hand as it discharged. He instinctively punched him in the neck, and the man bolted for the apartment door. It was then that Peter noticed he had been hit on the head during the struggle, and while his hands went to the spot he reflected on his actions. For as long as he could remember he was cat-like in the face of danger, but never as fast as that. What was happening?

They both saw the bald-headed man on the ground the minute they stepped from the SUV. Peter Bishop ran straight to the body, as Olivia Dunham ran around to the back of the hotel in pursuit of their perp.

Instinctively Peter reached for the dark gun lying next to Observer #2, to arm himself. He was surprised when a strong arm grabbed his own. Peter locked eyes with the man as he nodded his head. Peter's brow furrowed in confusion. The last time there had been an Observer and a gun he had been shot. Now Peter watched as the bald man placed the gun firmly into his hand and nodded again. Understanding washed over him. The bald men fell back form exhaustion as Peter took off in a run to find Olivia. _Go with your gut_, his mind yelled.

By the time Peter had Olivia in his sights she was on the second floor balcony and a big man in a trench coat had his piece trained on her. In a smooth movement Peter fired the weapon which made a noise he had never heard before. Olivia turned and fired off two rounds into the portly man has he slid off the roof onto the concreete parking lot. Cautiously Peter moved toward the body, foreign gun still trained. When it appeared the threat was gone, Peter stared at the weapon. It was like no gun he had ever seen before. He couldn't wait to show it to her.

As the adrenaline high dropped a notch, and the thought of Olivia Dunham returned to him he looked up at her, not surprised to find her eyes focused on him. They just looked at each other in that moment, in silent understanding. Peter swallowed hard, choking back the realization of just how close he had come _again _to losing her.

As Olivia walked toward the stairway, Peter squatted down and picked up the Observer's fedora with his right hand, while still holding the Observer's gun in his left.

He wanted answers and he knew these people had them. Despite holding the man's personal belongings, he was no closer to the truth in that moment.

Peter Bishop vowed to get all the answers before he took his last breath.

**Please review. Makes my day!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, I updated this again. Can you believe it?**

**Thanks to everyone who is still reading this. And a big thanks to those who are reviewing. That makes me happy. :)**

**This chapter reflects events of episode 2.10 entitled, "Grey Matters."**

**You know I don't own it. It is unbetaed.**

Activated-Chapter 9

Olivia Dunham had the accelerator of the SUV pushed down to the floor as she sped toward the Bishop's house. She knew how upset Peter Bishop was, sitting next to her, without even having to look at him. She could feel the anger vibrating off him and the acid roiling in his stomach.

For a reason she couldn't identify, Olivia looked over at her passenger and confirmed her thoughts by looking at his profile. Then Peter turned his head and locked eyes with her. Hurt, angry, and worried eyes.

She wondered what he saw in hers. All she could do was try to access him across their connection with her mind.

_I'm sorry. We'll find him there. We will,_ she yelled inside her head. Olivia didn't say Walter would be alright because she didn't know and didn't want to venture a guess. She prayed that he was. She honestly couldn't imagine how Peter would be if they found him otherwise.

Olivia felt something shift inside Peter then, and he looked away from her.

_Almost there, _she assured herself.

Olivia Dunham had expected to see the shiny silver droplets at the site of the second man's fatal head wound, but it was all red. Her gun still raised she could feel the hatred emanating from the van and knew Thomas Jerome Newton was hiding in its shadows.

"Come out of there!" She shouted at the van.

Hesitatingly, Newton walked into her vision with his hands raised. It was at that moment that Olivia realized that he could have killed her if he had wanted to. He had been able to see her but she hadn't been able to see him. He was playing games with her-wanted something, but what?

"Step down slowly. Keep your hands where I can see them. You so much as twitch and you won't have a head left to re-freeze!"

Olivia spun Newton around and slammed his upper body onto the van's floor, holding him with one hand as she fumbled for her plastic tie to cuff him with her other. Suddenly, she was distracted by a giant wave of panic and fear that overpowered her adrenaline high, and almost knocked her off her feet. _Peter!_

She struggled to maintain control when Newton started to speak.

"I think there's something you should know. It's about Walter Bishop." Newton boldly stood up, Olivia Dunham's service revolver in his back. "He's going to die unless you do exactly what I say. I injected him with a neurotoxin, and unless he gets the antidote in four minutes, it will kill him. Call it my fail-safe to ensure my escape."

Olivia now understood the wave of emotion that hit her seconds ago. Although she knew this man was not bluffing she said it aloud anyway, trying to make it so.

She spun Newton around to face her and stepped back.

"You're bluffing!"

Olivia grabbed her cell phone from her pants, pushed one button, and stuck the phone to her ear while her right hand still held her gun on Newton.

The phone ran twice and then clicked. "Hey, it's me," she said in a causal tone Newton fully anticipated.

Even Newton could hear Peter's harried voice. "They've done something to Walter! I-I don't know what it is but I think maybe he's been poisoned. His pulse is racing."

Olivia raised her head and leveled her eyes on Newton. "What did you do to him?"

"Ask him if he sees a medical kit I left behind," Newton answered without trepidation.

"Olivia, you've got to get back here. Please! Please, I need your help!" Peter shouted in anguish on the other end, trying to maintain Walter's airway.

She was determined to stay in control. "OK, Peter. Listen to me. Do you see a medical kit?"

"Yeah. There's one here on the table. Why?"

"There are three vials in the kit. Injected in the correct order they neutralize the toxin," Newton said.

Olivia was losing her patience. Peter's desparate cry was still ringing in her ears as Newton talked.

"Tell me!" she shouted at Newton.

"No, no, no, no, no," Newton said snuggly, looking at his black watch. "You have about two minutes until Dr. Bishop dies. At a flat run, I estimate about forty seconds until you get back to him. Now hand me your phone. When I hear you go back into the house, from Peter's phone, I'll tell you what do do."

Olivia tried not to lose her cool. She replied too quickly.

"You're crazy if you think I'm letting you go." But as soon as the last word left her lips she knew how this would play out. There was no way she could let Peter down. If Walter died he would never forgive her. It was not an option. She was screwed.

"Olivia, please. I need your help. I think he's dying. Walter! Walter!!" Peter's voice shouted even more urgently than before. The pain in his voice was almost too much for her to bear.

"The choice is yours." Newton joined in. "You can have me, or Walter Bishop," he said giving her a cocky smirk.

Even though she knew what she was going to do, what she _had_ to do, she hesitated, hating the position she was in.

"One minute, forty-five seconds. C'mon Olivia," Newton said her name in a sing-song voice that made her want to kill him.

"Olivia, please. You've got to get back here. I need your help!" Peter yelled again, his voice reflecting his weariness.

"Make your choice," Newton said growing impatient. "Me, or Walter Bishop."

"GO TO HELL!" Olivia yelled at Newton throwing her phone at him.

She ran as fast as she could back into the house and yelled to Peter to give her his cell phone, putting it to her ear.

"OK you son-of-a-bitch."

"Do you have the medical kit?" Newton asked dripping with false concern.

"Got it. OK," she said trying to catch her breath. "Tell me how to do this!"

"Blue, yellow, red."

"OK. Blue, yellow, red," Olivia confirmed. She watched as Peter injected Walter's arm with the syringes in that order.

After the last injection, Peter and Olivia watched Walter looking for signs of life as the seconds dragged by.

"And Olivia. Now I know how _weak _you are!" Newton hissed into Peter's phone and then clicked off.

Olivia Dunham was so pissed off she wanted to hit someone or something. This enemy had won, had out-maneuvered her, and she was furious with him and herself, for her weakness. She thought all this as she watched Walter, barely containing herself. Praying Newton had told them the truth.

Suddenly Walter gasped and started breathing. Then he started to talk.

"Peter...I have a terrible headache...and a sudden craving for chicken wings." Peter grabbed his father and pulled him to a sitting position, tucking his chin on Walter's head, tears trailing down his face.

Olivia wiped a tear from her eye. She didn't know if it was out of reaction to watching Peter's suffering or out of frustration. But she did know two things in that moment. Her feelings for Peter Bishop ran much deeper than she was willing to admit, and Thomas Jerome Newton knew this also.

She turned away from father and son, hiding her head in shame and frustration.


	10. Chapter 10

**I know I'm behind on this story. For those readers looking for something more extensive than poor Liv's thoughts in that cell, you've come to the right place!**

**This chapter reflects events from episode 2.12, entitled, 'Johari Window.' And if you haven't Googled 'Johari Window' yet I suggest you do. Quite interesting stuff **

**that may pertain to Season 3.**

**Unbetaed. Please take a moment to review if you like. It might get the next chapter up faster. :)**

**I own nothing to do with 'Fringe' except the infinite story ideas in my head. This chapter is dedicated to my friend, Observer101. You're gonna be fine. :**

Activated-Chapter 10

Olivia's POV:

He looked so lonely standing there in the middle of the road in his pea coat, silhouetted by the moonlight. I walked up and stood next to him, taking some relaxing breaths. I could feel multiple emotions rolling off him. Doubt, anger, frustration, and a little self-loathing all mixed together.

I wanted to touch him, hug him, and tell him everything would be all right, but it wasn't the time or place for that. Instead, I opted for a different approach, choosing my words carefully.

"There was no ID on the guy, so we're gonna run some prints." I looked at him and decided to keep going. "You had no choice. The first time I killed someone, he was a trained killer. " Peter looked up at my face and I knew I had his attention. "If I hadn't pulled the trigger, I'd be dead. I still didn't sleep that night. Or the next." He looked a little restless, like there was something he wanted to say, but he kept quiet. "I'm just saying the first time's rough." We stood there a few more moments, an owl hooting in the distance while Peter swallowed, which I knew meant he was upset. Then he touched my arm with his hand, summoning us to rejoin the others.

Peter's POV:

I just wanted to turn back time so that the man who shot at me could just run away and not die from the bullet fired by my hand. It was the third time I'd taken a life and each time was worse than the one before. I was amazed 'Livia couldn't read this from me, that I'd killed before. It just reminded me yet again how ashamed I am of my past and how now matter how far you try to run from things they always come back. The first time it was a fatal blow to the head of one of Big Eddie's thugs. It was either him or me. I was sick for hours afterwards. I don't know why 'Livia isn't taking into account Donald Long, the man who shot our second Observer friend. That whole event flashes before my eyes again, and regardless what she thinks it was my two shots from the Observer's gun that killed him.

'Livia has come to stand next to me and I can feel emotions rolling off her. Concern, a little fear, and an emotion I can't put a name to, but it is strong.

"There was no ID on the guy, so we're gonna run some prints. You had no choice. The first time I killed someone, he was a trained killer." I look up at her. She's telling me about her first kill, but this wasn't mine, and I want to shout it to her, but I am too ashamed. I know what she saw and heard about me in Iraq scared her, probably even disgusted her, and I didn't want to see that look on her face ever again.

"If I hadn't pulled the trigger, I'd be dead.." _O, 'Livia,_ I say to myself, _I am so glad you're right here, Sweetheart._

"I still didn't sleep that night. Or the next." _You have no idea, 'Livia. I'm surprised you can't feel it._

"I'm just saying the first time's rough." _Someday. Someday I will tell you about my first time killing, if you want to hear about it. I wish it had never happened. Any of them._

I want to just take her away somewhere private and hold her in my arms-after I beat the shit out of some poor inanimate object. The tears threaten to spill and I try my hardest to hold them back so she can't see. I swallow hard and touch her arm with my hand, gesturing for us to join the others.

Sadly, I know this is neither the time nor the place.


	11. Chapter 11

**There's only 15 more weeks left in this hiatus.(Only!) If you enjoy reviewing the episodes of Season 2 and their P/O implications, you've come to the right place!**

**I do not own anything to do with Fringe. I just obsess over the show and the characters. (Don't you?)**

**This is unbetaed. Sorry for any mistakes. This chapter reflects what I see as key events in episode 2. 13 entitled 'What Lies Below.'**

**Please review if you like it. Reviews make my day!**

Activated-Chapter 11

Olivia Dunham kept walking around the circular hallway of Vitas Petrol, wishing the whole nightmare was over. At the sound of the woman's scream and the breaking glass she ran back to the recption area, and saw Peter Bishop pushing up off the floor next to the dead man.

She noticed first. The significance of it took a few seconds to register in her brain. "Peter!"

He looked at his hands and saw the blood there. She watched as recognition dawned on him as well.

Peter locked frightened eyes with hers. He moved toward the nearest sink he could remember, as her cell phone chimed.

"Dunham."

"What the hell's happening up there?" Broyles screamed into her ear.

Peter turned the water on and washed his hands the best he could, seeing that the blood was on his arms as well. He hurriedly pulled his shirt over his head and attempted a thorough job of scrubbing his elbows, water splashing everywhere. He saw Olivia come to stand at the door, her eyes looked wild with fright. _I can't...I can't. She needs me..we..._, he thought to himself. Only then did he feel the fear radiating off her. Or was it his own? She extended her hands like she wanted to go to him but then dropped them.

"Peter, be careful," she told him, her voice breaking with emotion.

"Mhmm," was all he said in reply, and resumed his frantic purging.

Peter turned off the water and looked up at her. He didn't want to leave her, wasn't planning to leave her. It wouldn't happen that they wouldn't get their chance. She must have been thinking it also as she shook her head no. _We'll make it, 'Livia. We'll make it_, he thought to himself, willing her to hear him.

* * *

Olivia smiled back at Peter as his named was called meaning they were both free to exit the contaminated building. She had a flash of sitting at a bar having a drink with him, when the guards suddenly blocked his way. "Wait, stop! He's bleeding from the nose. He's infected!" one of them screamed.

"I just have to get outside," Peter stated.

The two guards locked arms with him pushing him backwards. One knocked Olivia further away.

"Stop him! Get him away from the door!" said the guard.

"I just have to get outside. I JUST HAVE TO GET OUTSIDE!" Peter yelled at the top of his lungs as he was dragged backwards. The guards let go of Peter and stepped outside, closing the heavy glass doors behind them. Olivia moved closer and noticed his face had changed. Peter indeed looked sick, and very, very angry. Despite all their cases and experiences with the Fringe Division, she had never seen him look so angry.

Peter pressed his body against the glass, his hands pressed to it.

By now the incident had Phillip Broyles' full attention, as he stood a few feet behind Olivia, watching the scene unfold before him.

"Olivia, please! Please, you've got to open this door!"

Olivia felt physically ill. She realized in that instant the man she loved was infected with an unknown virus and doomed to die, and she couldn't do anything about it. Couldn't even touch him.

"Peter, I can't. You know that," she reasoned with him, her eyes moist with tears.

"Look at me. Just look at me. I'm fine. Just look at me!"

It was killing her. It was the worst moment of her life. Even worse than thinking they were going to die at the sherrif's hands in Edina. Worse than losing John. She had to fix this! She had told him they were going to make it through this. She was not going to lose Peter!

"Peter.." She could feel it radiating off him. Anger. Fear. Frustration. She just wanted it to stop.

He was angrily banging on the glass. "Olivia! OLIVIA!"

Her heart was beating frantically. She watched as he backed away from the window. A gruesome look on his face, his color changed, his undershirt drenched in sweat. She didn't want to admit it but he looked ghoulish. After one more intense look at her face he walked away. She was never more scared in her life.

* * *

Olivia Dunham opened the door to the parking garage, the blue map still open in her hand when she was violently shoved from behind. Out of fear, she managed to stay on her feet and keep moving. She turned to see Peter breathing heavily, in step behind her. Olivia retrieved her gun and held it in front of her. She pointed it at Peter Bishop, something she thought would never happen in her lifetime.

"Listen, I'm here to help you," she pleaded with him.

"Give me the gun, Olivia," he returned.

"Peter, they're gonna shoot you!" Olivia kept trying to move away. But every step she took away he took to gain on her.

"They're gonna kill us all anyway. The cure is out there. They're lying to us. And you locked me in here."

Peter lunged at and attacked her, pushing her backward over the nearest vehicle.

"You BETRAYED ME!" Peter yelled as Olivia got her feet up and into his mid-section and kicked him, pushing off him. They spun around and Peter backed her against the wall of the garage, his hand on her hand holding her service revolver as the gun discharged above them.

Raising her knee suddenly, Olivia kicked him in the groin hard. Peter made an ugly sound as he loostened his grip on her hand and her gun went flying across the parking garage floor. Olivia took the opportunity to dive away from him and grab it in her right hand. Just as she tried to raise her arm he stuck his booted foot on it, and picked her gun up, pointing it right at her.

She panicked. All the rational, strategical tactics she learned at Quantico years ago left her brain, and all that was left was panic. Her breathing was loud and labored, and she wondered for a second if Peter Bishop would kill her right there. _Please Peter! Please! I love you!_ She screamed in her head.

But he just stood there, breathing hard. Staring at her with intense blue eyes. The gun trained on her. She wished he'd hurry up and do it if that was their kismet.

"Stay down," he told her, his voice laced with heavy emotion. He turned and walked away, her gun still in his hand. Olivia just watched, trying to get her breathing under control.

There was a flash of blue and then her beautiful face, and her standing next to him as he lay on the gurney. For a moment he thought he was dead.

And then he reasoned he wasn't. Peter turned his head to the left and saw his father and Astrid standing there, concern scribbled on their faces. "Thank you. All of you." He turned his head to the right to see her face again.

"You feeling better?" Olivia asked. He noted how exhausted she looked.

"'Livi..." His voice broke, his throat was parched like a desert. He tried again. "I'm sorry."

"You weren't yourself."

He studied her face as best he could in his drained state, and was grateful that Astrid was continuing to wipe the sweat from his head as he studied Olivia.

"It's lucky for me that you were." Peter felt like sleep would overtake him again at any moment, but he felt the need to let her know the emotions bubbling in him that he couldn't even identify. He wanted to comfort her, but he could only comfort her with his brain, his body was useless with fatigue. _It's OK, 'Livia. It's over now. Can you hear me? I wish you could hear me. It's OK. _He smiled weakly at her, and felt sleep overtake him.


	12. Chapter 12

**Wow. A new chapter. Sorry it took so long. This chapter is based on episode 2.15 entitled, "Jacksonville."**

**I don't own Fringe. All mistakes are mine.**

**Please review if you like this. thanks to all of you who have favorited/alerted this story.**

Activated-Chapter 12

Olivia looked at her darkly-gloved hands and realized the little frightened girl who's called herself "Olive" had vanished into thin air. She lowered her hands and gazed around in the dark, foresty place and felt a presence near her. When Olivia snapped her head to the side the girl was next to her flashing neon eyes and growling like a leopard. It was frightening.

Olivia Dunham snapped her eyes open. Her breathing was intense as she dug into the arm rests of the torture chair. She focused on the man standing in front of her, staring at her. A man growing into a more frightening dichotomy of good and bad with each passing day. If looks could kill, Dr. Walter Bishop was a dead man.

"What the hell is wrong with you! You did this to little children?"

It was all Peter Bishop could do to keep himself grounded. He was kneeling behind her and to her right, observing the interaction between the two, feeling an uncomfortable mix of emotions. He could feel Olivia's emotions stronger than ever now in his gut. Fear, anger, and digust all mixed together. While he continued to receive the visceral assault he looked up at his father's face to gauge his reaction to Olivia's words. Then he felt acid churn in his stomach as his owns emotions came forward. Love, anger, fear, and repulsion mixed with her emotions inside his body. It was almost too much for him to handle. Peter's eyes added to Walter's visual assassination. He remembered his own words to her on their first plane ride home from Iraq. _So you're saying my father is Dr. Frankenstein? _He knew more than ever in that moment how right she was, and he wondered what other horrible acts he and Belly had enacted on children and adults that they hadn't discovered yet.

Walter Bishop lamely shook his head in response to her question, gazing toward the floor.

Ashamed to lift his eyes again to her, he did anyway knowing time was always of the essence when it came to his wonderdrug.

"We should get to work," Walter said, as he timidly walked toward the door and back to the classroom of mixed objects.

* * *

Olivia Dunham picked up the old fashioned doll, studied it, and set it back down again.

Peter Bishop looked up when she picked up the doll, thinking that she was succeeding in identifying the first of 16 objects in the classroom that Walter claimed were from the alternate universe. When she set the doll back in its resting place he settled down again, watching her, afraid for her. Worried about her, terribly.

Olivia marveled how easily she could 'read' Peter now. He was frightened for her, she knew, but there was another feeling there that she couldn't put a name to. She pushed the thought aside and picked up the glued-up coffee cup, playing with it, and set it down near Walter on the desktop.

"Nothing. Now what? Should we find some more kids to scare?" she said to him, her eyes flashing angrily.

Peter's stomach had settled down in those minutes as she studied the objects in the classroom. At her angry words he felt everything flare up again. He wanted to throw his father against the wall and punch his lights out but knew it wouldn't solve anything. After all, Walter knew how the cortexiphan worked, and how to keep Olivia safe post-dose.

Peter settled for staring at his father again, hating him for what he had put both of them through in his childhood. For a second he wondered what Walter-induced horrors of his youth lay buried in his subconscious mind.

"I have no idea," Walter answered Olivia. Peter believed he meant it.

* * *

She stood there for a moment watching him study the computer monitor in a quiet part of Massive Dynamic's giant laborynth-like lab. His fingers glided across the keys like they did when he'd played the piano for her. Seeing him working so hard added to her self-loathing. She thought about turning around and just calling it a day, reporting back to Broyles and joining him in the control room to wait for word of hundreds of innocent people getting sucked into another dimension.

Peter sensed sadness close to him and glanced up. He saw Olivia in the shadows and his heart beat faster. He started talking quickly and eagerly.

"Hey. I figured if I could shut down all the non-essential functions, I can make these things run faster..." Halfway through his words he could see his gut was correct. His beautiful blond was not right. Olivia clung to the partition as she spoke.

"It's too late. I failed. I failed and I'm supposed to be the one who can stop things like this."

Peter studied her face. Caring diffused into his every molecule. "Olivia," he half-whispered as he walked closer to her.

Olivia stood still as Peter walked over to her. She couldn't help staring into his eyes and saw everything she needed to know there. She could feel his emotions mixing with her own and they became one and the same. Some part of her wanted to run but she was grounded to her spot, waiting for the comfort she felt coming.

"I've never met anyone who can do the things that you do," Peter told her gently. He cocked his head and gave her a tiny smile. Ever so gently he raised his hand and touched her face like he did in the hospital room the time she was interrogating the woman named 'Mouse.' His thumb lingered on her cheek and Olivia leaned into it, relishing his touch. Looking into his eyes she knew. She knew what he was feeling because she felt the same.

Peter swallowed like he always did when he was awash with emotion and moved his face closer to Olivia's. Everything around them had dissappeared. It was just the two of them and that was all that mattered in that second.

Olivia recognized in that moment that she loved this man to her core, and the feeling sacred her. It scared her more than biogenic monsters and mutated viruses running amuck. More than universes colliding and people being sucked into nothingness. She was surprised when she heard herself put her thought into words.

"Peter, I'm scared."

His face inched closer to hers. She could feel his breath on her face and smell his musky cologne.

It was the most right moment of her life and yet she was scared to death of it, scared of losing him too.

"Don't be," he whispered to her, inching even closer their lips quite close.

Then it hit her. Walter's words to her in Jacksonville. ..._Belly and I reasoned that extreme emotions would stimulate this perception, that acute feelings of fear and love..._Fear. And love.

Olivia pulled back and looked at Peter, her eyes wide.

"What?" Peter asked scanning her face, not understanding the sudden change in her.

"Peter! I'm scared!" She let go of him, turned, and ran out of the lab. Olivia just knew she could find the glimmering building now, thanks to Peter. Dear Peter. She ran up to the Observation Deck and searched the Manhattan skyline for a shimmering mass. And then she saw it. Olivia hoped there was still time to find out exactly what building it was.

* * *

Olivia stood in Philip Broyles' office, exhaused, but satisfied. They had identified the hotel in New York, emptied it, and saved lots of people. She and Broyles watched as the TV announcer called it 'an unannounced controled demolition.'

"The conspiracy nuts are gonna have a field day," she told her boss.

Broyles turned and gave her a look. "You'd be surprised what you can get the genereal public to believe." He paused and looked her over. "You saved alot of people."

She shook her head a little. "We all did," she answered him, her mind thinking of Peter.

"Dunham. This ability you've demonstrated. What finally activated it?"

"I think it was just time," she replied, knowing all too well not _what_ but _who_ was responsible for her supposedly re-acquired ability.

* * *

Olivia was nervous as she knocked on the door of the Bishop household. She'd done this dozens of times at all hours of the day and night, but never to collect Peter Bishop for 'drinks.' She saw a shape approach the door and tried to calm her breathing.

"Hey," Peter said as he opened the door.

"Hey," Olivia said back as Peter held the door open and she stepped inside. Peter closed the door behind her. He turned and smiled at her, happy she'd chosen to wear her hair down, meaning this was definitely _not_ a work function they were getting ready to go to.

Olivia smiled back at him and looked him over. He looked handsome in the silver sweater and long-sleeved blue shirt hidden underneath.

"I know a great place that's just a couple blocks away. Thought we'd walk?" Peter told her.

And then she saw it. And Walter knew that she saw it.

"Agent Dunham."

Olivia ignored Walter and stared at the green glimmer surrounding Peter Bishop and pulsating.

She knew in an instant the implications of that glimmer and her heart sank. _Does he know?_ She wondered to herself.

"I'l go get my coat, " Peter said, totally oblivious to the scene around him. He turned and walked to the stairway, and disappeared up the steps.

Olivia watched Peter ascend the stairs the glimmer ascending with him. She felt physically ill.

_How could this be? Peter's from the other side?_

Walter Bishop watched the change in her face, his heart breaking for her. He walked up close to her.

"Olivia. Please don't tell him," he whispered to her, his face showing total desparation.

She pulled her eyes from the stairway and focused on Peter's father, staring at him in disbelief. _Peter__ doesn't even know?_

And everything in Olivia Dunham's world shifted in that moment of recognition.

.


	13. Chapter 13

**Yes, I'm finally posting a new chapter in this story. My apologies to all who have been looking for more.**

**I know it's an excuse, but in my defense, my muse has been bombarding me with other stuff-like Bad!Walter ideas and 'Rouge,' and teasing me to respond to americanchick's and oranfly's challenges.**

**I don't own anything and any errors are mine.**

**This chapter reflects the events of episode 2.16 entitled "Peter." If you've never seen it you should watch it before you read this.**

**And please, if you want more chapters, please review. It will help greatly. :)**

**Olivia, Walter, and Peter all reflect on recent developments**

Activated-Chapter 13

The sudden knock on her apartment door startled her. The interruption of the silence she desired so much angered her. Then the anger quickly shifted into the fear of who it might be. Olivia Dunham desparately hoped it was a neighbor's child soliciting for Boy or Girl Scouts, and not the one man who now hoarded her thoughts, whose image had kept her awake for most of the last three nights.

As she made her way to the door with her second scotch glass in hand Olivia suddenly wished it _was_ Peter Bishop at her door that evening. She would tell him everything. As Olivia undid the lock a voice in her head shouted out like a child. _Would you?_ But it was too late to change her mind and close the door. To her relief Walter Bishop stood there looking exhausted, holding a parcel of some kind, waiting for Olivia to say something.

"Walter, what are you doing here?" she asked him, each word feeling like a weight on her tongue.

"You left me no choice. You wouldn't answer your telephone, return my messages. I tried to communicate." He locked eyes with her and she could see a glimpse of the weariness within him.

"I need time, OK?" Olivia replied defensively. "I don't even know...hot to begin to work this out."

Walter's eyes shifted to the ground and then back up to her face. "I think I do," he told her softly.

"Please, Olivia, I need to explain." His eyes focused on the glass in her hand. "And if you wouldn't mind, I could use a sip of something myself."

Olivia moved to let him in and closed the door behind him. Wordlessly she walked to the walnut-colored table and poured three fingers of scotch into a glass as Walter watched.

"Have you told Agent Broyles?" Walter asked her, afraid of her reply.

"No," she replied as she finished pouring his drink. "But to be honest, that doesn't mean that I won't."

"I always knew that one day I would have to pay the price for my deception."

"Well," Olivia answered slowly as she put the cover back on the decanter. "We're not really sure what the cost is yet, are we?" She tried to concentrate on picking up his drink and walking with it but her mind took a turn into dangerous territory, wondering for the millionth time what he would do after she told him the truth. She'd seen his reaction in kicking the bathroom stall when they'd found the id chip from Walter's face in the sink the time Newton had kidnapped him. Olivia knew after this news that was a cake walk in comparison. No matter how much she'd analyzed it, it all came down to the same outcome. Peter would take off. And that was totally unacceptable. Period.

Olivia set Walter's drink on her coffee table, and watched as he took the wrapper off the parcel he'd brought with him.

"No. I suppose not" Walter held onto the sides of the now exposed item. "I invented this after William and I learned that we had doubles on the other side. Or maybe it was before. I can't remember. It's a window to the other universe. I was a different man then. I was going to change the world." Walter put his head down, remembering. Then he looked up at Olivia, determined. "But you see, after Peter became sick, none of that seemed to matter anymore. The illness was genetic. Hepia. Savage. Wasting. I tried everything." Walter's eyes glistened with dampness. "There was simply no hope. At least...not on _this_ side. But over _there_...they're more technologically advanced. If the alternate Peter was also sick over there, then wouldn't _his_ father be equally motivated to find a cure? He was. God help me...he was."

Olivia sat down, not quite sure she'd heard him correctly. Why was he talking about an _alternate Peter_ with the same illness? She had a very bad feeling she was about to find out.

* * *

"...and I realized at that moment that despite what I'd promised, what I fully intended to do...that I could never take Peter back. The way she looked at him, I saw in her what I feared most in myself when I saw him...that I couldn't lose him again. It was the first hole, Olivia. The first breach. The first crack in a pattern of cracks, spaces between the worlds. And it's _my fault_." Walter was quiet for a moment, lost in his thoughts. "You can't imagine what it's like to lose a child."

The two of them sat there mentally and physically drained. Silent. Olivia Dunham was thankful she hadn't eaten anything for several hours prior. The gnawing in her gut was bad enough. She hadn't been expecting this. The enormity of it. Peter's illness. Peter's death! Walter's intentions, Walter's actual actions. It was too much to process. But she did know one thing. Her Peter, alternate or not, deserved to be told the truth.

Sweaty and in need of a break, Peter Bishop sat down on _their_ bench in Boston Common. Although the air had a typical New England coolness about it, he was warm, sweaty, and worried. Something was off for the past three days. He'd been majorly disappointed when she'd canceled their going out for drinks due to a sudden migraine, but it was certainly understandable. Olivia had been through mental and physical hell during those days that had run into each other. He even understood when she showed up to the lab the day after much more quiet than her usual self. Peter knew from personal experience the mental and physical exhaustion that often occurred post-migraine. _But three days?_

As he pondered this a feeling crept into him. A mix of sadness, nausea, and...longing? Peter sat on the bench just receiving it knowingly. _Olivia's_. Should he go to her? He knew she probably wouldn't appreciate his just showing up at her door, especially if she still wasn't feeling well. But if there was something else wrong..._she would tell me, wouldn't she?_

Peter's mind shifted into a different direction and the reason for his walk. Walter had been acting strangely as of late. Quieter. Not eating as much. Preoccupied. Was he regressing into mental illness? Peter took a breath and got up off the bench. He started walking toward Cambridge. Walter was his father. Surely he would tell him if there was something wrong.


End file.
